Expression after suppression: A motivational explanation of postsuppressional rebound

Five studies examined the effect of expressing a construct after suppressin g it on subsequent accessibility. Suppression of color terms (Studies 1, 2, and 5) and of stereotypes (Studies 3 and 4) were examined. Both expression alone and suppression alone enhanced the construct's accessibility relativ e to the nosuppression/no-expression condition, demonstrating activation by recent construct use and postsuppressional rebound, respectively. However, introducing expression after suppression reduced accessibility relative to both the suppression alone and the expression alone conditions. These resu lts are explained within a motivational theory of rebound, according to whi ch suppressing a construct induces a need to use it, and subsequent express ion satisfies this need, thereby instigating an inhibition of the accessibi lity of need-related constructs.